Letters to the Editor

nutrition and international development experts, as well as by involving consortia of corporations, major foundations, UN agencies, leading NGO (such as the International Union of Nutritional Sciences) and government development agencies. The Lancet paper states that ‘the intricacy of undernutrition as a global problem seems to defy simple, directed and uniform programmes. We will not effectively improve child survival unless we untangle this web [of interactions]’. The authors call for a ‘knowledge base on the necessary support and institutional capacity that enables these interventions to work and improve child survival’. If the global burden of undernutrition is to be combated successfully and in ways that link its solution to avoiding a worsening of the crises in overweight and obesity, the need for strong public–private partnerships to support practical interventions at the population level is not only necessary, but critically urgent.